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 U.N. member states agreed a year ago to reduce the rate of maternal
mortality, defined as a woman's death during pregnancy, childbirth
or within 6 weeks after birth, to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live
births globally by 2030 as part of the U.N. Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).
Globally maternal deaths have nearly halved since 1990 - falling to
216 women dying of maternal causes per 100,000 live births in 2015
from 385 per 100,000 in 1990.
But to reach the U.N. target, maternal mortality rates would need to
fall by nearly 70 percent, researchers said in a study published in
The Lancet.
Nearly 53 million of the poorest women in the world receive no
skilled assistance during birth, the study said.
Women who struggle the most to get good quality maternal care were
teenagers, unmarried women, immigrants, refugees and internally
displaced women, along with indigenous women and women from ethnic
or religious minorities, the report said.
"In all countries, the burden of maternal mortality falls
disproportionately on the most vulnerable groups of women," said
Wendy Graham, lead author of the study and professor of obstetric
epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"This reality presents a challenge to the rapid catch-up required to
achieve the underlying aim of the Sustainable Development Goals -
"to leave no one behind"," she said in a statement.
Most maternal deaths occur in developing countries, often caused by
unsafe abortions, excessive bleeding, high blood pressure or
infection during pregnancy, childbirth or the period shortly after
delivery, health experts say.
WIDENING GAP
The gap between countries with the lowest and highest maternal
mortality rates has doubled between 1990 and 2013 and huge
differences exist within countries, including rich countries like
the United States, the report said.
For example, African-American women in New York City are twice as
likely to die in childbirth as women living in the developing region
of Eastern Asia, it said.
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In sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of a women dying in pregnancy or
childbirth during her lifetime remains 1 in 36 women compared with 1
in 4,900 in richer countries, it added.
To meet the SDGs, an estimated 18 million additional health workers
are needed, including midwives and obstetricians, particularly in
sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Researchers said too many birth facilities still lack basic
equipment, water, sanitation and electricity.
The report said a trend of over-prescribing tests, antibiotics after
birth, unnecessary caesarean delivery and induced labor also
amounted to poor maternal healthcare.
"Too many experience one of two extremes: too little, too late,
where women receive care that is not timely or sufficient, and too
much, too soon, marked by over-medicalization and excessive use of
unnecessary interventions," the report said.
The problem of over-medicalization has traditionally been found in
rich countries but it has become more common in low-and
middle-income countries, bringing higher health costs and the risk
of harm, the report said.
(Reporting by Anastasia Moloney, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please
credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking,
corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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